memory problems

[tom arnall <kloro2006@gmail.com>]

my system freezes when I try to run an application that handles a large file 
in a variable. I have set ulimits as follows:

	core file size 		(blocks, -c) 0
	data seg size			(kbytes, -d) unlimited
	file size				(blocks, -f) unlimited
	max locked memory 	(kbytes, -l) 256000
	max memory size		(kbytes, -m) 256000
	open files				(-n) 1024
	pipe size				(512 bytes, -p) 8
	stack size				(kbytes, -s) 8192
	cpu time 				(seconds, -t) unlimited
	max user processes	(-u) unlimited
	virtual memory 		(kbytes, -v) unlimited


Physical memory on the system is 512MB, yet when the application runs - 
despite the limits shown above - linux hands almost all of memory to the 
application.

Tom Arnall
north spit, ca